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Time to ring in the New Year with some coral measurements

Sometimes we do a little more than just dig in the sand. Over the New Year, Mauro and I taught the coral reef ecology unit of an undergraduate field course from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay and St. Norbert College at the STRI field station in Bocas del Toro, Panama. While we spent a portion of our time in the lab discussing the importance of the area and looking at creatures under microscopes, we also brought the class snorkeling on the reefs with us to do some field work and explore. For some of the students, this was their first time snorkeling and seeing a coral reef in person. For me, that moment was life-changing, so I’m delighted to be able to share this magic with them. We visited a diversity of reefs during the trip, some of which were clearly healthier than others, and we discussed the differences between them and the potential underlying anthropogenic and natural drivers. For example, instead of merely reading that runoff and eutrophication are harmful for coral reefs, the students were able to glimpse algae-covered corals off the coast of the Changuinola River floodplain, the site of extensive banana plantations.

The students also got some hands-on experience doing field work. With the help of the class, we’re investigating long-term bioerosion rates on branching corals, specifically staghorn (Acropora cervicornis) and finger (Poritessp.) corals, in Almirante Bay. This study will improve our understanding of the carbonate budget on reefs in the region and, in particular, which way the seesaw between reef accretion and dissolution is tilting. This question pertains directly to the future of reefs in Bocas del Toro as well as how resilient they may be to future perturbations such as storms. Furthermore, it helps us key into one of the processes contributing to the reef substrate, which is where our lab collects bulk samples and sediment cores to reconstruct historical reef communities. Understanding whether the reef is actively contributing to this substrate through coral growth and reef accretion or whether it is stagnant or even shrinking can provide context for interpreting patterns of microfossil abundance. This study may also shed light on dates we computed for corals extracted from cores at these sites, which suggest that some of the dead corals lying on the surface are far from modern.

We started this study in December 2015 by collecting, measuring, and redeploying recently-dead pieces of coral on mesh plots. We successfully relocated the plots this past December and took our first annual measurements. Some bioeroders were even see in action on the reef! Interesting trends are already starting to emerge in the data. One of the students will be conducting an independent study to try to unravel some of these patterns, so stay tuned for her findings.